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1 May 2005 A floristic and biogeographical analysis of the wetlands of the Bolivian Cloud Forest
Nur P. Ritter, Garrett E. Crow
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Abstract

A study of six wetlands of the Bolivian Cloud Forest was undertaken from 1994 to 1997. Seventy-five species, in 29 families and 49 genera, were identified as being associated with wetland habitats in the Bolivian Cloud Forest. The flora was composed of a mixture of fairly common, ruderal species and of species typical of high Andean (alpine/Puna) aquatic systems. In contrast to the terrestrial flora of cloud forest habitats, these wetlands were found to contain few endemic or rare species. At the site level, it appeared that the wetlands could be characterized as species-poor relative to wetlands in most other Bolivian regions; however, this determination was confounded by a disproportionate number of ponds (a characteristically species-poor wetland type) among the cloud forest study sites. Floristic similarities (Sørensen's Index) between cloud forest study sites were relatively low; nevertheless, these systems were closely grouped in an ordination by Detrended Correspondence Analysis of 46 wetlands from throughout Bolivia. Regional-scale diversity comparisons were confounded by the inability to confidently estimate the area of inundated habitat in the Bolivian Cloud Forest. However, it appeared that diversity in the cloud forest wetlands was substantially lower than that of terrestrial cloud forest habitats. Likewise, it appeared that the Bolivian Cloud Forest wetland flora was species-poor relative to wetland floras of other Bolivian regions. Floristic similarities were low between the Bolivian Cloud Forest and other regions within Bolivia and in various South and Central American montane regions. An ordination of the regional data suggested that the Bolivian Cloud Forest wetland flora was most closely associated with the other two Bolivian montane regions included in this analysis.

Nur P. Ritter and Garrett E. Crow "A floristic and biogeographical analysis of the wetlands of the Bolivian Cloud Forest," Rhodora 107(929), 1-33, (1 May 2005). https://doi.org/10.3119/00-10.1
Published: 1 May 2005
KEYWORDS
Andes
Aquatic plants
bog
Bolivia
Neotropics
phytodiversity
tropical montane cloud forest
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